Signpost structure

ABSTRACT

A signpost structure including an elongated support post and an information-bearing cylindrical sign attached via an edge stiffening and mounting member to the support post and capable of presenting information to a viewer within a range of 360*. The cylindrical sign is formed by joining the side edges of a rectangular, flat, flexible sign blank formed of a highimpact organic plastic material. The support post is preferably a foursided tubular member having equi-spaced openings provided longitudinally in each side for permitting the cylindrical sign to be attached to any one of the four sides at any one of several possible points along the length thereof.

United States Patent n 1 Attwood I SIGNPOST STRUCTURE I75] Inventor:Warren R. Mtwood, Wayne, Mich. I73] Assignee: Unistrut Corporation,Wayne, Mich.

I22] Filed: July [5, I974 l2l I App]. No.: 488,?

|S2| U.S. Cl. 40/145 R; 40/]25 H [Sll Int. Cl. G09F 7/l8 |58| Field ofSearch 40/I25 H. I45 R, I25 R. 40/19, 2I R. l24.l, I3I R [56] ReferencesCited UNITED STATES PATENTS l,(l96,5l'lll 5/ l9l4 Wchb 40ll25 R X2,filll,98l 6/l954 Wilson....... 3,486,262 I2/I969 Gregoire 40ll45 RFOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 652.427 lI/l962 Canada 40/I45 R OTHERPUBLICATIONS Telespar Advertising Brochure, 8-I964, Centerfold.

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[ 1 Dec. 30, 1975 Primary Exumt'nerLouis G. Mancene AssistantExaminer-John F. Pitrelli Attorney, Agent. or Firm-Peter Xiarhos; ElmerJ. Nealon; Norman J. O'Malley [57l ABSTRACT A signpost structureincluding an elongated support post and an information-bearingcylindrical sign attached via an edge stiffening and mounting member tothe support post and capable of presenting informa tion to a viewerwithin a range of 360. The cylindrical sign is formed by joining theside edges of a rectangular, flat, flexible sign blank formed of ahighimpact organic plastic material. The support post is preferably afour-sided tubular member having equi-spaced openings providedlongitudinally in each side for permitting the cylindrical sign to beattached to any one of the four sides at any one of several possiblepoints along the length thereof.

[2 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures U.S. Patent Dec. 30 1975 Sheet l 0f23,928,930

FIG. 5

FIG. 4

BUS STOPfi U S S T 0 P FIG. 1

U.S. Patent Dec. 30, 1975 Sheet 2 of2 3,928,930

2129 FIG. 6

SIGNPOST STRUCTURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present inventionrelates to a signpost structure and, more particularly, to a signpoststructure including an information-bearing cylindrical sign capable of360 visibility and legibility.

A wide variety of signpost structures of different types andconstruction are well-known to the average person. These signpostsgenerally include signs for communicating a variety of different kindsof information to a viewer such as, for example, traffic information,street names, and information for use in connection with specializedapplications such as public transportation (cg, bus stop information).While existing signpost structures perform a very necessary and valuablefunction, the signs of these signpost structures are generally flat, andaccordingly, communicate the information thereon to a viewer onlythrough a very narrow viewing range, typically considerably less thanI80". Thus, in applications where it might be desirable to provide 360visibility of sign information, for example, in bus stop or street signapplications, existing signpost structures are unsatisfactory. Inaddition, existing signpost structures generally do not present adistinctly unique appearance to a viewer.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly, in accordance with the presentinvention, a signpost structure is provided including aninformationbearing cylindrical sign which is capable of 360 visibilityand legibility and, in addition, is uniquely different anddistinguishable from the flat signs of existing signpost structures. Thecylindrical sign of the signpost structure of the invention is hollowand is formed from an initially rectangular, flat, flexible sign blank.The cylindrical sign has an outer surface having a plurality ofidentical items of information thereon and further has firstand secondside edges. The signpost structure also includes an edge-placement meanswhich places the first and second side edges of the sign blank adjacentto each other thereby forming the initially flat, rectangular sign blankinto the hollow cylindrical sign. The plurality of items of informationat the outer surface of the sign blank are arranged so that at least oneitem of information is always presented to a viewer when the side edgesof the sign blank have been placed adjacent to each other by theedge-placement means in forming the cylindrical sign. The signpoststructure further includes an elongated support member having across-sectional area less than the cross-sectional area of thecylindrical sign, and mounting means mounting the cylindrical sign tothe elongated support member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Various objects, features andadvantages of a signpost structure in accordance with the presentinvention will be apparent from the following detailed discussion takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. I is a perspective view of a signpost structure in accordance witha first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view of a flat sign blank employed to produce acylindrical sign for use in the signpost structure of FIG. I;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are top and front views, respectively, of an edgestiffening and mounting member employed in the signpost structure ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a top view of the signpost structure of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a perspective of a signpost structure in accordance with asecond embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 7 and 8 are top and front views, respectively, of an edgestiffening and mounting member employed in the signpost structure ofFIG. 6; and

FIG. 9 is a top view of the signpost structure of FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring now to FIG. 1, there isshown in a perspective view a signpost structure I in accordance with afirst embodiment of the invention. The signpost structure 1 includes acylindrical sign 3 bearing multiple identical legends 3a thereonparallel to the axis of the sign 3, an edge stiffening and mountingmember 15 used in conjunction with the cylindrical sign 3, and a supportstructure 5 for supporting the cylindrical sign 3 and the associatededge stiffening and mounting member 15. For purposes of explaining thepresent invention, it is assumed that the signpost structure 1 is to beused in connection with public transportation. For this reason, thelegends BUS STOP" have been selected for use on the cylindrical sign 3.However, it will be appreciated that for other applications thecylindrical sign 3 may bear any other suitable legends or symbols,whether pictorial in form or otherwise.

The cylindrical sign 3 as shown in FIG. I is formed from a flat,rectangular, flexible sign blank such as shown in FIG. 2. The sign blankof FIG. 2 is preferably of a lightweight, weather-resistant andimpact-resistant organic plastic material, such as, for example, acellulose acetate butyrate plastic material or a polystyrene plasticmaterial. For its use in public transportation, the sign blank ispreferably selected to be of a basic white color and the BUS STOPlegends 3a, typically of a black color, are silk-screened together withan upper border 3b and a lower border 30, both typically of a red color,against the white background. The above combination of colors insuresthat the cylindrical sign 3 will be eye-catching, both to motorists andpedestrians alike.

As indicated in FIG. 2, the multiple BUS STOP legends 3a are arrangedvertically on the sign blank and such that each of the legends 3a, withthe exception of the left-most legend 3a, is spaced from the precedinglegend 3a by a distance a, and the right-most legend 3a is spaced fromthe right edge of the sign blank by a second, greater, distance b. Aswill be apparent hereinafter, the dimensions a and b are selected suchthat when the sign blank is formed into a cylindrical sign,specifically, by slightly overlapping the side edges of the sign blank(the left edge overlapping the right edge), the right-most legend 3a inFIG. 2 then likewise becomes spaced from the left-most legend 3a in FIG.2 by the aforementioned distance a. As a result, the information contentof the cylindrical sign becomes available to a viewer through a range of360, that is, a legend 3a of the sign is always visible to a viewerfacing the sign.

The sign blank of FIG. 2 also has a plurality of openings 7, 9, 11 andI3 provided therein for use in forming the sign blank into a cylindricalsign, one opening being provided in each corner region of the signblank. The

openings 7 and 9 and the openings 11 and I3 are spaced from each otherby a distance c and the openings 7 and II and the openings 9 and 13 arespaced from each other by a distance (I such that when the sign blank isformed into a cylindrical sign the opening 7 is coaxially aligned withthe opening 9 and the opening 11 is coaxially aligned with the openingI3.

To form the sign blank of FIG. 2 into a cylindrical sign, theaforementioned edge stiffening and mounting member 15, shown in detailin the top and front views of FIGS. 3 and 4, respectively, is employed.The edge stiffening and mounting member 15 is basically an S-shapedelement, typically of sheet metal, and includes a pair of diagonallyopposed curved end portions 15a and 15b separated by an integral flatportion 15c. The curved end portions 150 and 15b of the edge stiffeningand mounting member 15 define spaces for receiving the opposite sideedges of the sign blank. Specifically, the curved end portion 150 of theedge stiffening and mounting member 15 receives the right edge of thesign blank and the curved end portion 15b receives the left edge of thesign blank. The flat portion 150 of the edge stiffening and mountingmember 15 further has a pair of openings 17 provided therein and spacedapart from each other by the aforementioned distance d so as to becoaxially aligned with the pairs of openings 7, 9 and l 1, I3 of thesign blank when the side edges of the sign blank have been inserted intoand received in the respective curved end portions 15a and 15b of theedge stiffening and mounting member 15.

When the side edges of the sign blank have been inserted into andreceived by the curved end portions 150 and 15b of the edge stiffeningand mounting member 15, as mentioned above, the cylindrical sign soformed may be attached, together with the accompanying edge stiffeningand mounting member 15, directly to the aforementioned support structure5. The support structure is preferably of a type described in detail inU.S. Pat. No. 3,628,296, to Herbert J. Henry, and assigned to the sameassignee as the present invention. The support structure 5 comprises, asshown in FIG. I, an elongated longitudinally perforated tubular signsupport post 5a and a longitudinally perforated tubular anchor sleeve 5binserted into a base medium (e.g., a sidewalk or the ground) and intowhich the sign support ost 50 is telescoped and suitably attached, forexample, by a nut-and-bolt arrangement. As is evident from FIG. 1, thetubular sign support post 50 (and also the tubular anchor sleeve Sb) hasa cross-sectional area substantially smaller than the cross-sectionalarea of the cylindrical sign 3, as taken in a plane normal to thecentral (longitudinal) axis of the sign 3. The tubular members 5a and 5bare typically of metal and are commercially available from the UnistrutCorporation, Wayne, Mich, under the trade name Telespar.

To attach the aforedescribed cylindrical sign and the accompanying edgestiffening and mounting member I5 to the support structure 5,specifically, to the sign support post 5a, a pair of threaded bolts aresimply passed through the pairs of openings 7, 9 and 11, 13 in thecylindrical sign, through the associated openings 17 in the edgestiffening and mounting member [5, through opposed pairs of openings inopposed sides of the sign support post 5a, and then threaded intoassociated nuts. It will be appreciated that the large number ofopenings in the sides of the sign support post 5a permit the cylindricalsign and the associated edge stiffening and mounting member to beattached 4 thereto at any one of several possible points along thelength thereof. A top view of the completed signpost assembly 1 is shownin FIG. 5.

The signpost structure 1 of FIG. 1, as described hereinabove, offersmany advantages and features. The cylindrical sign of the signpoststructure 1, by virtue of its configuration and use of several colors,is unique and readily distinguishable from conventional flat signs. Inaddition, it is able to withstand the normal effects of weather, it isnot susceptible to rusting and, due to its resiliency and flexibility,is not readily susceptible to being significantly damaged, for example,due to vandalism or as a result of accidental vehicular impact. Inaddition, the sign has sufficient thickness (e.g. 0.040 in.) andstiffness to maintain its shape without the requirement of additionalsupport beyond that provided by the edge stiffening and mounting member15 and the sign support post 5a. Further, the cylindrical sign islightweight and may be quickly demounted from its support post and, ifdesired, used elsewhere. Due to the fact that the sign blank from whichthe cylindrical sign is formed is flat and flexible, the cylindricalsign is conveniently formed on-site, thereby avoiding the necessity ofthe blank being formed into a cylindrical sign beforehand and thentransported to the site. This feature is significant when large numbersof cylindrical signs are to be prepared and storage space does notreadily permit the storage of the required number of cylindrical signs.

Referring now to FIG. 6, there is shown in a perspective view a signpoststructure 20 in accordance with an alternative embodiment of theinvention. The signpost structure 20 of FIG. 6 is similar to thesignpost structure I of FIG. I and, like the signpost structure 1 ofFIG. 1, includes a cylindrical sign 2] and a sign support post 22. Thesignpost structure 20 of FIG. 6 differs most significantly from thesignpost structure I of FIG. 1 in that the sign support post 22 ispositioned centrally of the cylindrical sign 21 rather than being offsetwith respect to the central axis of the sign as is the case with thesignpost structure I. The respective positioning of the sign supportpost 22 and the cylindrical sign 21 is achieved by means of an edgestiffening and mounting member 23 as shown in detail in the top andfront views of FIGS. 7 and 8, respectively. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8,the edge stiffening and mounting member 23 includes an S-shaped section24 having a pair of diagonally opposed curved end portions 240 and 24bfor receiving the side edges of the cylindrical sign 21 and a flatportion 240 integral with the portions 24a and 24b, and further includesan Lshaped section 25 integral with and extending away from the curvedend portion 24a. The flat portion 24c of the S-shaped section 24 furtherincludes a pair of openings 27, spaced apart from each other by theaforementioned distance d, so as to be coaxially aligned with theopenings in the cylindrical sign 21, and the horizontal portion of theL- shaped section 25 also includes a pair of openings 29, also spacedapart from each other by the aforementioned distance d. The edgestiffening and mounting member 23 is typically of sheet metal. To attachthe cylindrical sign 2] and its associated edge stiffening and mountingmember 23 to the sign support post 22, threaded bolts are passed throughthe openings in the cylindrical sign 2] and the coaxially alignedopenings 27 in the S-shaped section 24 and then threaded into nuts,thereby to secure the cylindrical sign to the edge stiffening andmounting member 23, and threaded bolts are passed through the openings29 in the L-shaped section 23 and associated opposed pairs of openingsin opposed sides of the sign support post 22 and then threaded intonuts, thereby to secure the edge stiffening and mounting member 23 tothe sign support post 22. A top view of the completed signpost structureis shown in FIG 9.

Although preferred embodiments of the invention have been describedhereinabove, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that variouschanges and modifil0 cations may be made therein without departing fromthe invention as called for in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A signpost structure. comprising:

a hollow cylindrical sign formed an initially rectangular, fiat,flexible sign blank, said sign blank having first and second side edgesand first, second, fourth and forth openings provided therein in first,second, third and fourth corner regions thereof, respectively, the firstand second openings being adjacent to the first side edge of the signblank and the third and fourth openings being adjacent to the secondside edge of the sign blank, said sign blank further having an outersurface having a plurality of identical items of information thereon;

edge-placement means placing the first and second side edges of the signblank adjacent to each other thereby to from the intially flat,rectangular sign blank into the hollow cylindrical sign, saidedgeplaccment means including an S-shaped member having first and seconddiagonally opposed edgereceiving portions arranged to receive the firstand second side edges, respectively, of the sign blank and a flatportion between the first and second edge-receiving portions and havingfirst and second spaced openings therein, the openings in the sign blankand in the flat portion of the S-shaped member being arranged so thatthe first second openings in the sign blank are coaxially aligned withthe first opening in the flat portion of the S-shaped member and thethird and fourth openings in the sign blank are coaxially aligned withthe second opening in the flat portion of the S-shaped member when thefirst and second side edges of the sign blank are received by therespective first and second edgereceiving portions of the S-shapedmember, the plurality of items of information at the outer surface ofthe sign blank being arranged so that at least one item of informationis always presented to a viewer when the side edges of the sign blankhave been placed adjacent to each other in forming the cylindrical sign:

an elongated support member having a cross-sectional area less than thecross-sectional area of the cylindrical sign; and

mounting means including means employing the first and second openingsin the sign blank and the first opening in the flat portion of theS-shaped member and means employing the third and fourth openings in thesign blank and the second opening in the flat portion of the S-shapedmember for mounting the cylindrical sign and the associated S-shapedmemher to the elongated support member.

2. A signpost structure in accordance with claim 1 wherein:

the support member is a tubular member having a plurality of openingsprovided therein along its length.

3. A signpost structure in accordance with claim I wherein:

the plurality of items of information ofthe sign blank are arrangedthereon so as to be spaced from each other by a predetermined fixeddistance when the first and second edges are placed adjacent to eachother by the edge-placement means.

4. A support structure in accordance with claim 1 wherein:

the sign blank from which the hollow cylindrical sign is formed is of anorganic plastic material.

5. A signpost structure in accordance with claim 4 wherein:

the cylindrical sign is of a cellulose acetate butyrate plasticmaterial.

6. A signpost structure in accordance with claim 4 wherein:

the cylindrical sign is of a polystyrene plastic material.

7. A signpost structure comprising:

a hollow cylindrical sign formed for an initially rectangular, flat,flexible sign blank, said sign blank having first and second side edgesand first, second, third and fourth openings provided therein in first,second, third and fourth corner regions thereof, respectively, the firstand second openings being adjacent to the first side edge of the signblank and the third and fourth openings being adjacent to the secondside edge of the sign blank, said side blank further having an outersurface having a plurality of identical items of information thereon;

an elongated support member having a cross-sectional area less than thecrosssectional area of the cylindrical sign;

edge-placement means placing the first and second side edges of the signblank adjacent to each other thereby to form the initially flat,rectangular sign blank into the hollow cylindrical sign, saidedgeplacement means including an S-shaped member having first and seconddiagonally opposed edgereceiving portions arranged to receive the firstand second side edges, respectively, of the sign blank and a flatportion between the first and second diagonally opposed edge-receivingportions, said edge-placement means further including a member extendingbetween the second edge-receiving portion of the S-shaped member and theelongated support member for spacing the cylindrical sign and theassociated S-shaped member away from the elongated support member sothat the cylindrical sign surrounds the elongated support member, saidflat portion of the S-shaped member being arranged so that the first andsecond openings in the sign blank are coaxially aligned with the firstopening in the flat portion of the S-shaped member and the third andfourth openings in the sign blank are coaxially aligned with the secondopening in the flat portion of the S-shaped member when the first andsecond side edges of the sign blank are received by the respective firstand second edgereceiving portion of the S-shaped member, the pluralityof items of information at the outer surface of the sign blank beingarranged so that at least one item of information is always presented toa viewer when the side edges of the sign blank have been placed adjacentto each other in forming the cylindrical sign; and

7 8 mounting means including means employed the first the cylindricalsign is of a cellulose butyrate plastic and second openings in the signblank and the first r l V opening in the fl t rtio f th S h d member 10.A signpost structure in accordance with claim 8 and means employing thethird and fourth openings Whcmml in the Sign blank and the secondOpen-mg in the flat the cylindrical sign is of a polystyrene plasticmateportion of the Sshaped member for securing the l rial g d h 7cylindrical sign formed from the sign blank to the fi Slgnpufit Struuurem mcor Ame Wu C S-shaped member, and said mounting means furtherincluding means employing the openings in the 10 extending member forsecuring the S-shaped member and the extending member to the elongatedsupport member.

the elongated support member is a tubular member having a plurality ofopenings provided therein along its length.

12. A signpost structure in accordance with claim 7 I wherein: SignStrucmre m accordance wlth clam 7 the plurality of items of informationofthe sign blank wherelm are arranged thereon so as to be spaced fromeach the Sign blank from which the hollow Cylindrical g other by apredetermined fixed distance when the is f rm d i f an rgan plasti matria first and second edges are placed adjacent to each 9. A signpoststructure in accordance with claim 8 other by the edge-placement means.wherein:

1. A signpost structure, comprising: a hollow cylindrical sign formed aninitially rectangular, flat, flexible sign blank, said sign blank havingfirst and second side edges and first, second, fourth and forth openingsprovided therein in first, second, third and fourth corner regionsthereof, respectively, the first and second openings being adjacent tothe first side edge of the sign blank and the third and fourth openingsbeing adjacent to the second side edge of the sign blank, said signblank further having an outer surface having a plurality of identicalitems of information thereon; edge-placement means placing the first andsecond side edges of the sign blank adjacent to each other thereby tofrom the intially flat, rectangular sign blank into the hollowcylindrical sign, said edge-placement means including an Sshaped memberhaving first and second diagonally opposed edgereceiving portionsarranged to receive the first and second side edges, respectively, ofthe sign blank and a flat portion between the first and secondedge-receiving portions and having first and second spaced openingstherein, the openings in the sign blank and in the flat portion of theS-shaped member being arranged so that the first second openings in thesign blank are coaxially aligned with the first opening in the flatportion of the S-shaped member and the third and fourth openings in thesign blank are coaxially aligned with the second opening in the flatportion of the S-shaped member when the first and second side edges ofthe sign blank are received by the respective first and secondedge-receiving portions of the S-shaped member, the plurality of itemsof information at the outer surface of the sign blank being arranged sothat at least one item of information is always presented to a viewerwhen the side edges of the sign blank have been placed adjacent to eachother in forming the cylindrical sign: an elongated support memberhaving a cross-sectional area less than the cross-sectional area of thecylindrical sign; and mounting means including means employing the firstand second openings in the sign blank and the first opening in the flatportion of the S-shaped member and means employing the third and fourthopenings in the sign blank and the second opening in the flat portion ofthe S-shaped member for mounting the cylindrical sign and the associatedS-shaped member to the elongated support member.
 2. A signpost structurein accordance with claim 1 wherein: the support member is a tubularmember having a plurality of openings provided therein along its length.3. A signpost structure in accordance with claim 1 wherein: theplurality of items of information of the sign blank are arranged thereonso as to be spaced from each other by a predetermined fixed distancewhen the first and second edges are placed adjacent to each other by theedge-placement means.
 4. A support structure in accordance with claim 1wherein: the sign blank from which the hollow cylindrical sign is formedis of an organic plastic material.
 5. A signpost structure in accordancewith claim 4 wherein: the cylindrical sign is of a cellulose acetatebutyrate plastic material.
 6. A signpost structure in accordance withclaim 4 wherein: the cylindrical sign is of a polystyrene plasticmaterial.
 7. A signpost structure comprising: a hollow cylindrical signformed for an initially rectangular, flat, flexible sign blank, saidsign blank having first and second side edges and first, second, thirdand fourth openings provided therein in first, second, third and fourthcorner regions thereof, respectively, the first and second openingsbeing adjacent to the first side edge of the sign blank and the thirdand fourth openings being adjacent to the sEcond side edge of the signblank, said side blank further having an outer surface having aplurality of identical items of information thereon; an elongatedsupport member having a cross-sectional area less than thecross-sectional area of the cylindrical sign; edge-placement meansplacing the first and second side edges of the sign blank adjacent toeach other thereby to form the initially flat, rectangular sign blankinto the hollow cylindrical sign, said edge-placement means including anS-shaped member having first and second diagonally opposededge-receiving portions arranged to receive the first and second sideedges, respectively, of the sign blank and a flat portion between thefirst and second diagonally opposed edge-receiving portions, saidedge-placement means further including a member extending between thesecond edge-receiving portion of the S-shaped member and the elongatedsupport member for spacing the cylindrical sign and the associatedS-shaped member away from the elongated support member so that thecylindrical sign surrounds the elongated support member, said flatportion of the S-shaped member being arranged so that the first andsecond openings in the sign blank are coaxially aligned with the firstopening in the flat portion of the S-shaped member and the third andfourth openings in the sign blank are coaxially aligned with the secondopening in the flat portion of the S-shaped member when the first andsecond side edges of the sign blank are received by the respective firstand second edge-receiving portion of the S-shaped member, the pluralityof items of information at the outer surface of the sign blank beingarranged so that at least one item of information is always presented toa viewer when the side edges of the sign blank have been placed adjacentto each other in forming the cylindrical sign; and mounting meansincluding means employed the first and second openings in the sign blankand the first opening in the flat portion of the S-shaped member andmeans employing the third and fourth openings in the sign blank and thesecond opening in the flat portion of the S-shaped member for securingthe cylindrical sign formed from the sign blank to the S-shaped member,and said mounting means further including means employing the openingsin the extending member for securing the S-shaped member and theextending member to the elongated support member.
 8. A sign structure inaccordance with claim 7 wherein: the sign blank from which the hollowcylindrical sign is formed is of an organic plastic material.
 9. Asignpost structure in accordance with claim 8 wherein: the cylindricalsign is of a cellulose butyrate plastic material.
 10. A signpoststructure in accordance with claim 8 wherein: the cylindrical sign is ofa polystyrene plastic material.
 11. A signpost structure in accordancewith claim 7 wherein: the elongated support member is a tubular memberhaving a plurality of openings provided therein along its length.
 12. Asignpost structure in accordance with claim 7 wherein: the plurality ofitems of information of the sign blank are arranged thereon so as to bespaced from each other by a predetermined fixed distance when the firstand second edges are placed adjacent to each other by the edge-placementmeans.